Manufacturing Consent

With the increased efficiency of mass communication technology therehas been enhanced sophistication in its varied utilization. Correspondingly,a few fresher perspectives of mass media analysis have also appeared in recentyears.Wiebe's (1975) The Segmented Society offered a sociological interpretationof mass media contents which, according to him, aggravated the growingisolation of individuals from their social organizations. Williams (1982) wroteof serious dangers of the concentrated control of powerful media. In the sameyear, Berger (1982) dealt with the three types of media analysis techniquesfrom the perspectives of a) structural-functionalist; b) serniological; andc) Marxist. Berger sounded rather casual about the misuse of media by certainindividuals or groups. To him it seemed just a matter of varying perspectivesto find faults with each other's media systems in the tradition of inter-ideologicalrivalry among researchers subscribing to the three different schools of thought.Lowery and DeFleur (1983, 1988) identified the major milestone in theevolution of communication research. In this process, they discovered severalinstances of misuse of mass media and of media research for commercialand political purposes. But their disapproval of such practices in the Americansociety was relatively mild and subdued. Martin's and Chaudhary's (1983 )work seems to be the first comprehensive comparative investigation into massmedia systems currently operating in the world. They have compared andcontrasted modes of control, goals and roles of media in the Western,Communist, and the Third World nations. In relative terms, Martin andChaudhary are right in asserting that in the Western world "press freedombelongs primarily to the individual and secondarily to private groups." However,one needs to look deeper to be able to measure the extent to which the individualcontrols the Western media. It is this research concern that should lead usto a fuller discussion of the book under review here.Looking into the political economy of information in the global context,Mowlana (1988) justifies the "fear and frustration of Third World nations."He quotes Schiller (1981) to prove his point that the so-called 'free flow' ofinformation does not exist, for "There are 'selectors and controllers' who shiftand shape the messages that circulate in society." ...